"The impetus here is to get the market moving in the right direction," said Brian Kulpa, (D) Amherst town supervisor.

Right now, that direction is due North.

"The Northtown Plaza's sitting empty," said Kulpa.

And it has been for some time, despite the recent addition of Whole Foods — designed to help draw other tenants to the plaza.

Northtown is just one of hundreds of acres of big box development gone, with hundreds more threatened.

"A good way to get that filled is to have some development down the street at Boulevard Mall," said Kulpa.

Kulpa can check that off the list, as the mall was auctioned off this week to Sinatra & Company Real Estate.

Plans for the 60-acre site include office and retail space.

"You can't have high-end retail development and then have big giant vacancies, right. That doesn't work," said Kulpa.

Kulpa said WS Development of Massachusetts has submitted a number of permit applications and is securing high-end anchor tenants for the plaza.

The project has been delayed because of sewer problems, as the developer is now working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

"We're working through those sewer issues with them. They're very confident in their ability to move forward, it's just really trying to jog this sewer issue loose," said Kulpa.

Kulpa said despite the delays, he hopes to see shovels back in the ground sometime next month.

"We have made a lot of progress and our goal is to start construction soon," said Lindsay Binette, director of field marketing for WS Development. She added that the company has "secured many more tenants" but declined to identify them at this time.